Why you should always consider capitalizing on your current eBay reputation, however small
Firstly this week I’d like to thank you for completing my survey last Friday. Now that I know exactly what type of information you would welcome from me to help you further your online business, I’ll be able to provide this in the future – and the report that came out on top will be winging it’s way to you very soon!
I receive emails very frequently from people who are just starting out on their online selling journey. People who really need some help in getting started, and often, those people want to begin with eBay, which in my opinion is the perfect starting point!
It’s common that they have great knowledge when it comes to buying items on eBay…but no idea as to how to go about selling. So the first question I get asked is whether to upgrade a private account (which has been used only for buying) into a business account, and use it for selling.
Frequently, the private account may have tens or even hundreds of positive feedbacks and even if you only have 10 or 15 feedbacks it’s really not worth wasting them by starting from scratch with a new account!
So, my answer is always the same!
Upgrade your existing private account to a business account so that you are able to take advantage of the feedback and reputation you have already built up on that ID.
It’s the most simple way.
Then, open a new account and use that as your ‘private’ account. If you are only going to be buying using your new ID, or even selling personal bits and bobs then your feedback score isn’t as important.
eBay do allow you to create multiple accounts and there is no limit to the number of different accounts that you can create. The only rule that eBay has is that each account must have a different email address, and this is easily sorted by simply setting up a ‘Yahoo’, ‘Gmail’ or similar free email address for your new private account.
What’s more, not only can you process your private buying and selling using your second account, you can also ‘secretly’ buy items with that account and then sell them on for a profit!
Buy ‘secretly’ and resell
This is a definite benefit that comes from having multiple accounts – the ability to buy products using one of your accounts and then resell those products using another. But why would you need two accounts to do that when you could do it all on one? Well, so that it’s completely secret!
When you come to resell the item, your buyer won’t be able to snoop through your feedback and see what the original price was when you purchased the item – because it’s on your other account…and accounts cannot be linked.
How does this work?
Let’s say you spot an auction that finishes at a really silly time like 3am when most (sensible) people are sleeping. Let’s also say that this particular listing also features a misspelt title so no one can easily find it. You know that with a better description, and if it finished at a normal hour or on a Buy It Now listing, you could make some profit from this item. So, you make the purchase with a view to reselling the item.
This is a great plan and is actually one of the strategies in my Find It, Flip It, Profit home study manual!
The same strategy applies if you purchase goods from eBay.com or another international eBay site with a view to reselling on eBay UK. So, separating your buying and selling accounts is most definitely a sensible move.
Having two accounts can also help in other ways…
The universally feared ‘red dot’
By concentrating on good customer service and offering a really great, quality product you shouldn’t receive negative feedback from buyers, but in my experience even the most diligent eBay seller can occasionally suffer at the hands of a particularly awkward customer.
If you do happen to receive a large collection of awful feedback – either deserved or undeserved – and you feel that it is bad enough to have a detrimental affect on your sales then it’s always useful to have another account you can use in case of emergency! Just upgrade your once new private account to a business seller account and start selling from that account instead.
You can even take this one step further…
Declare your ‘expertise’
But these aren’t the only advantages to having several eBay accounts. As you will be aware, every individual eBay account gets to have its own completely unique name – your ID – and the ID you create can be chosen to relate only to the product or niche area in which you are selling.
So, if you sell electronics accessories and you also sell handbags, you could have two separate selling accounts – one for each niche – to keep things separate and to show your expertise in a specific niche.
For example your electronics accessories ID might be ‘ElectronicsAccessoriesWorld’, which instantly informs prospective buyers that you are, without a shadow of a doubt, an expert in your field as it appears that the only products that you sell are those within this particular area.
This impression of expertise will be further emphasised when your potential customers follow any links you have on your listing page to see the other products you have for sale. Everything that they see, including all the feedback, will be linked to the niche market that they are interested in – electronics accessories.
What’s more, because all of your feedback is to do with the same market, it will be relevant for all of the listings that you post to this eBay ID, allowing you to quickly snap up some positive testimonials to place within the descriptions of your own listings and therefore promote the fact that you are a genuine, reliable seller – which will ultimately increase your sales.
I must point out that it isn’t essential to split your niches into lots of different accounts – remember the more accounts you have, the more eBay shops you will have and the more fees you will incur. You can, if you wish, keep all products on one account, categorized within your eBay shop.
However, particularly if your niches or products are worlds apart – for example if you sell ‘adult’ products and you also sell ‘childrens clothing’ – it would be preferable to keep those niches split!
So, to sum up, there is certainly no harm in having more than one eBay account and I am definitely ‘for’ the concept of multiple ID’s, but it’s important to remember that you don’t need to create lots of accounts that you then have to manage.
Only create what you need.
